Tamagushi (玉串; literally "jewel skewer") is a form ofShinto offering made from asakaki-tree branch decorated withshide strips ofwashi paper, silk, or cotton. AtJapanese weddings, funerals,miyamairi and other ceremonies atShinto shrines,tamagushi are ritually presented to thekami (spirits or gods) by parishioners,shrine maidens orkannushi priests.
TheJapanese wordtamagushi is usually written with thekanjitama玉 "jade; gem; jewel; precious; ball; bead" andkushi串 "string together; skewer; spit; stick", or sometimes written 玉ぐし withhiragana since the officialTōyō kanji do not include 串.
The earliest recorded transcription oftamagushi is 玉籤, usingkuji籤 "bamboo slip; (divination) lot; written oracle; raffle; lottery" instead ofkushi. The (c. 720 CE)Nihon Shoki "Chronicles of Japan", which repeatedly mentions a 500-branchedmasakaki 真榊 "truesakaki" tree (tr. Aston 1896:43, 47, 121), is thelocus classicus fortamagushi 玉籤.
This mytho-history records a legend that when the sun-goddessAmaterasu got angry with her brotherSusano'o and closed the door on the "Rock-cave of Heaven", the gods decorated a giantsakaki tree in order to lure the sun out of the darkness.
Then all the Gods were grieved at this, and forthwith caused Ama no nuka-do no Kami, the ancestor of the Be ["clan; guild"] of mirror-makers, to make a mirror, Futo-dama, the ancestor of the Imibe [weavers' clan], to make offerings, and Toyo-tama, the ancestor of the Be of jewel-makers, to make jewels. They also caused Yama-Tuschi [Mountain-god] to procure eighty precious combs of the five-hundred-branched true sakaki tree, and Nu-dzuchi [Moor-god] to procure eighty precious combs of the five-hundred-branched Suzuki grass. (tr. Aston 1896:47)
This "precious combs" translation derives fromtama 玉 (tr. "Toyo-tama" and "jewels") andkushi櫛 "comb", which is aNihon Shoki graphic variant ofkuji 籤 in the goddess named Tamakushi Hime 玉櫛姫 (tr. "jewel-comb" Aston 1896:62).
The (c. 645–760 CE)Man'yōshū "Myriad Leaves Collection" does not use the wordtamagushi but one poem (tr. Pierson 1929–1938:199) describes making it withpaper mulberry: "I tie pure white strands of mulberry to the branches of the sacred tree".
Some commontamagushicollocations include:
Tamagushi has an uncommon secondary meaning of "name for thesakaki tree". The (c. 1439 CE)Shin Kokin Wakashū "New Collection of Ancient and Modern Poems" (tr. Carr 1995:8) contains the first occurrence, "Holding the ornamentedtamagushi leaves".
Thesakaki (Cleyera japonica) is a flowering evergreen tree, which is considered sacred inJapanese mythology. In the present day, Shinto shrines often plant it as asakaiki (境木 "boundary tree") to demarcate sanctified space.Sakaki is written with thekanji榊, which graphically combinesboku orki木 "tree; wood" andshin orkami神 "spirit; god", compareShinboku (神木 "sacred tree"). Carr (1995:11) characterizes 榊 as "a doubly exceptional logograph"; it is anideograph "character representing an idea" (which is an infrequent type oflogograph "character representing a word", seeChinese character classification), and it is akokuji 国字 "national character; Japanese-made character" (rather than a typicalkanji 漢字 "Chinese character"loanword).
Theetymology oftamagushi, like many Japanese words, is uncertain. Despite consensus that-gushi 串 means "skewer; stick" (ofsakaki), the original signification oftama- 玉 "jade; jewel; ball" remain obscure. TheKokugaku scholarMotoori Norinaga (1730–1801) suggested an etymon oftamukegushi 手向け串 "hand-offered stick/skewer". The Shinto theologianHirata Atsutane (1776–1843) proposed "bejeweled stick/skewer", withtama 玉 referring to decorative "jewels" (cf.tama珠 "jewel; pearl; bead"). The famous ethnologistKunio Yanagita (1875–1962) hypothesized "spiritual stick/skewer", withtama 玉 meaningtama霊 "spirit; soul" (believed to be shaped like atama球 "ball; sphere; globe").
Tamagushi was central to the "Ehime-ken Yasukuni jinjā tamagushi soshō" 愛媛県靖国神社玉串訴訟 "Ehime Prefecture'sYasukuni Shrinetamagushi lawsuit" over the constitutional separation of state and religion (see Nelson 1999 or Morimura 2003 for details).
Although Article 20 of theConstitution of Japan prohibits the stateestablishment of religion and Article 89 forbids expenditure of public money "for the use, benefit, or maintenance of any religious institution", the Ehime Governor officially paid fortamagushi-ryō 玉串料 "tamagushi offerings" presented at several Shinto shrines. In 1982, a group of prefectural residents sued his office for having misappropriated ¥ 166,000 (approximately US $1900) in public funds. On March 17, 1989, theMatsuyama District Court ruled thetamagushi offerings were unconstitutional and ordered the defendants to repay the prefecture. On May 12, 1992, theTakamatsu High Court overturned the Matsuyama decision, reasoning that the Shinto offerings were constitutionally allowed within the realm of "social protocol". On April 2, 1997, theSupreme Court of Japan overturned that decision and made a landmark ruling thattamagushi offerings were unconstitutional.
The question of what constitutes support ofState Shinto remains controversial. For instance, the reformist politicianIchirō Ozawa disagrees with the court ruling.
There are some instances where the values specified in the constitution are not in accord with the Japanese traditional culture. The Shinto rite of worshipping one's ancestors is very different from the idea of religion in the West. The 'Tamagushirō Decision' of the Supreme Court against Ehime Prefecture, which declared that making donations to purchasetamagushi was against the Constitution based on the religious freedom of Article 20, would not strike the Japanese (who believe in many gods) as anti-constitutional. Perhaps it would be better to impose restrictions on religious freedom only in order to suppress the development of state-sponsored religious fascism. (2001:169)
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